European foreign ministers on Monday agreed to set up a ”coordination unit” to help tackle the growing problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia, with the possibility of a European Union naval mission in future.
The 27 EU ministers stressed their concern at the ”acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast” and decided ”to establish, in the next few days, a coordination unit in Brussels with the task of supporting the surveillance and protection activities carried out by some member states” off the coast.
The ministers, meeting in Brussels, also approved a ”strategic military option for a possible European Union naval operation” in the area.
The ministers ”would like to see the current planning work press ahead”, they added in a joint statement.
A flurry of attacks by Somali pirates is wreaking havoc with maritime traffic in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean amid complicated negotiations over the release of two kidnapped French sailors.
Spanish ships have also been targeted and the Spanish fishing fleet in the area has decided to move further out to sea.
In their statement, the ministers said they were ”gravely concerned” at the situation.
The EU ”deplores the continuing deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Somalia” in general, and expressed concerns at ”the difficulties in reaching the civilian population and at the security conditions” for humanitarian groups operating there.
Conflict, drought and rising food prices are threatening an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the troubled Horn of Africa country.
Pirate attacks on ships bringing food aid and supplies by sea have further complicated the delivery of humanitarian relief. — AFP
